President may withdraw deadline for African Union peacekeepers to leave

Sudan is expected to withdraw its deadline for African Union peacekeepers to leave the war-torn western region of Darfur at the end of this month, when AU foreign ministers discuss the mounting crisis in New York today, according to senior officials in Khartoum.

Sudanese president Omar al Bashir's ultimatum for an AU troop pull-out threatened to leave the huge area with no international monitors and provoke a major escalation of a three-year war which has already left a quarter of a million people dead.

A special "global day for Darfur" yesterday saw protesters in several dozen cities around the world call for an end to the fighting and warn of impending genocide.

Tony Blair wrote to EU leaders yesterday calling for pressure on both Khartoum and the rebels, and dangling the carrot of aid if Sudan accepts an international force. EU commission president Jose Manuel Barroso is planning a trip to Khartoum shortly. "We must step up our political engagement, to do what we can to avoid a humanitarian crisis," he said yesterday.

Protests were held in Rwanda and Cambodia, the site of two of the world's worst recent genocides. Rwandan genocide survivor, Freddy Umutanguha, said: "In 1994 the world left Rwandans to their fate and a million people were murdered. Today the world must stop genocide in Darfur."

"As victims of the Khmer Rouge, we would like to make our voices heard and unite with the rest of the world in demanding all parties involved in the conflict in Sudan stop the killings," said Ly Sok Kheang, a researcher at the Documentation Centre of Cambodia which is gathering evidence of crimes against humanity during the Khmer Rouge regime. In Khartoum, however, protesters chanted "Down, down with the USA".

Led by the United States, the UN security council has called for international forces to replace the AU troops with better equipment and a stronger mandate. Although the resolution says the troops require the consent of Sudan's government, President Bush hinted at the weekend that they should go in regardless.

"What you'll hear is, well, the government of Sudan must invite the United Nations in for us to act. Well, there are other alternatives, like passing a UN resolution saying we're coming in with a UN force in order to save lives," he said.

President Bashir has repeatedly said he would not accept UN troops, accusing the west of wanting regime change and trying to recolonise Sudan. "We don't want the United Nations back to Sudan no matter the conditions," he said in Havana after meeting the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan.

But sources in Khartoum now say the government is willing to let the African Union remain in Darfur, and accept some changes in its powers. "It is likely we will arrive at an extension of the African Union mandate when the ministers meet in New York. There seems to be a common interest. It will give time for all sides to find a way out of this," Ghazi Salahuddin Atabani, a senior presidential adviser, told the Guardian yesterday. The government wants to explore what it calls "African Union Plus", a plan to keep the AU troops but give them extra back-up in the form of helicopters and surveillance technology from western states.

The civil war in Darfur reached a peak two years ago after raids by government troops and militias known as janjaweed targeted hundreds of villages supporting rebel forces. More than 2 million people were forced to flee, and tens of thousands were killed.

Under heavy international pressure the government and the two rebel movements held several rounds of talks with AU mediation. In May this year a deal was reached which called for a ceasefire and the disarmament of the janjaweed and the rebels. In return there would be devolution of power to Darfur and a crash programme of redevelopment.

But the main rebel movement split, with one faction refusing to sign. It then joined the other rebels who had refused to sign, and formed a "National Redemption Front" which has attacked aid convoys and government positions, prompting renewed fighting which has displaced a further 50,000 people.

Backstory

The Darfur war erupted in February 2003 when rebels demanding a greater share of Sudan's oil wealth attacked a government base in El Fasher. All sides are Muslim, but some African tribes claimed the Arab-led government in Khartoum deliberately marginalised them.

Conflict between farmers and herders over declining amounts of fertile land raised tensions. Fighting has left more than 250,000 dead and displaced 2 million within Sudan or across the border to Chad. Attacks on civilians by pro-government forces led the US to declare genocide.